


River Styx

by LastShadowPuppet



Category: Death Note, Death Note & Related Fandoms
Genre: Afterlife, Angst, As close to love as Light will ever geht, Based on Dante's Inferno, Based on Greek Mythology, Dark, Death, Deception, F/M, Hades's Underworld, Not really falling in love, Reflection, River Styx
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-17 00:36:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4645836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastShadowPuppet/pseuds/LastShadowPuppet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Did you know that the hate from the River Styx was born from love?"- Light/OC</p>
            </blockquote>





	River Styx

He ran.

His heart beat wildly in his chest.

_10 seconds._

His dress shirt started to stick uncomfortably to his chest and he felt the fabric become heavier on his form as it was drenched with blood. His blood.

_20 seconds._

His heart was beating so wildly that he could hear it. The steady, rhythmic thumping was in his ears. He could hear the blood flow like a river in his ears.

_30 seconds._

An irritating sound that he knew all too well broke through the rhythmic thumping that had overtaken his auditory sense. A low and deep cackle that simply spelt trouble. It had always sounded in response to his failure. He struggled to recall from where it was.

_40 seconds._

His heart had been beating so wildly in his chest.

And now...

It stopped.

His eyes widened as if questioning where the beating had gone, why it had simply stopped. It shouldn't stop it was an integral part of him.

But before he could spend more time contemplating this something drapped over him.

He struggled to describe what it was.

Whatever it was it wasn't comforting or peaceful like a throw warming him.

It felt constraining like bindings that aimed to imprison him.

All his life he had fought at whatever wanted to hold him back.

This shouldn't be any different. But his heartbeat was missing.

Light Yagami fell to his knees and there he would stay until some meaningless individuals would remove his now forever inert form.

* * *

In all his life, Light Yagami had been praised as an extraordinary individual.

From as early as five years of age, Light Yagami had been recognized as a prodigy. He was brighter than all the others, more promising than all the others.

Since the age of five it had been clear that Light Yagami would achieve as close to perfection as humans would be able to. And as Light Yagami grew up he did not fall short of the promise he showed as an infant.

Since grade school and all throughout high school, Light Yagami had been the best student in his class, achieving some of the highest grades in all of Japan. He scored not only the highest mark in his year, but also the highest mark in the three years before in his entrance examination to To-Oh University (his brilliance had only been dulled by the fact that Ryuzaki had scored equally as high as him).

But it wasn't only academically that Light Yagami excelled- Whatever he put his mind to, Light would achieve and would carry it off with an elegance and perfection that was almost humanly impossible- he had been a national champion in tennis, he'd been the envy of his male classmates and the object of desire of his female ones.

In short, Light Yagami had been the human equivalent to perfection.

But for seventeen years he had been crippled, something had been missing, almost as if one of his essential limbs was just not there. As a result, he had felt constrained and neigh to useless in a world where his power and freedom to exercise his wills was constrained and a world which was decaying with the corruption and evilness around him.

And then Light Yagami had found the Death Note. And he had finally been able to shrug off the constraints. And Light had never felt more liberated in all his life.

He had been meant to be a god. To free the world of the rot that stained it.

They had all not understood. They had just ignored the fact that Light only wanted the best for humanity- for  _his_  humanity. They had simply not understood that it was Light who knew how to finally free the world of everything bad contained in it.

He cracked open his eyes and above him was utter darkness.

He closed his amber eyes and opened them once more. Again the only thing he saw was utter, vast, black nothingness.

Light slowly sat up and looked around him. What he saw sent a shiver down his spine. The landscape- if the sight before him could even be categorized as that- was one of utter desolation. The sky above him and the horizon that stretched before his eyes were inky black. His fingers were digging into the ashen-gray gravel on which he sat as his hands balled into fists. The only thing which broke the utter, black vastness before him was the still sea before him. And though Light knew that water couldn't be black, he was unsure whether the murkiness of the water body before him was only due to its reflecting of the sky above them.

He should have been prepared for this. The one rule of the Death Note that he had kept in mind-  _that had haunted him_ \- all the time he used it had been that by carrying out his duty, Light would be giving up his chance to go to either heaven or hell after he had died.

Light was dead- this he had known as soon as he had opened his eyes to utter blackness.

And he was in nothingness.

He was in neither heaven nor hell.

And here he would remain for the eternity to come.

Though his exterior remained unaffected and indifferent as had been all his life- except during his last moments in that warehouse where everything had falled to ruin around him and those mere mortals had dared defy him- within him, Light was in turmoil. He was damned to remain sitting here on this gravelly bank for all of eternity.

How the mighty had fallen.

His hands balled into fists as he imagined Ryuzaki's self-satisfied smirk at the utter desolation that Light's existence was to be from now on.

His thoughts were broken when he spied the silhouette of something nearing him in the horizon. His now still heart seemed to lift with hope and Light squinted his eyes to try and make out what it was.

Soon Light found out that whatever it was- it was approaching him. And soon enough the silhouette was close enough so that Light could hazily make out that it was a boat.

It was one of those old, wooden fishermen's boat that Light had seen whenever him and his family would travel to the coast during summer vacation. He could recall in his childhood sitting on the white sand of the beach and watching as the fishermen returned aound midday with their catch.

He couldn't help but notice that the situation he recalled and the situation he was in were diametrically opposed- the beach in his memory almost seemed blinding with its vibrant colours whereas the monochrome of this environment threatened to drain him. The only similarity was the fishermen boat that was steadily approaching him.

But as the boat came closer and closer to him, Light noted with a sense of disgust that not even that was similar to the boat of his childhood. The man- nay the creature that was steering the boat was grotesque. It resembled an old man, wary with age, his cheeks haggard and his long white beard uncombed and unclean. The ferryman steered the boat towards him with a long pole and as soon as he was close enough, Light looked into the ferryman's eyes and they were like hollow furnaces on fire.

Despite his initial weariness of the fellow driving the boat, Light stood up and moved towards the ferryman. He waited for him at the edge of the water, his posture straight and proud, his hands balled into fists as he waited. Then the boat had reached the shore and the ferryman ceased his driving. He leant on his pole as support and watched Light with his furnace eyes.

Light had the feeling that the man was currently looking into his soul and he had to resist the urge to flinch back. He remained in his unrelenting posture and met the ferryman's gaze head on.

Slowly, the man reached out his arm- Light remained conscious not to show any reaction so as not to betray his utter trepidation- until his right arm was stretched out and his palm was held skyward towards Light.

He cocked his head at the man's gesture in utter confusion. He supposed that he could have interpreted it as the man offering him some assistance to get on his boat- but, despite not knowing the man, Light did not have the feeling that this was an individual to show the common courtesy of helping passengers get on his boat. It was almost as if the man was asking him for something-

"The coin, boy," a gravelly voice spat and Light's eyes widened. The ferryman had broken the thick, dense silence that had settled between them. He supposed that his confusion must have shown on his face because, the man opened his mouth once more: "Your fare, boy." Light shook his head, trying to dispell the algidness that had settled in his bones in response to the harsh tone of the ferryman's voice.

Light proceeded to look over his body, but he knew that he wouldn't find a coin. How could he? It seemed utterly ridiculous that he would find a coin amongst the fabric of his clothes in Nothingness.

The creature looked down at him harshly and declared: "No fare, no passage." With those words of utter finality, he turned his back towards Light and proceeded to stride to the other end of the boat.

It finally dawned on him that the man had refused for him to get on the boat and that he would be leaving him. The man would drive his boat away and Light would be once more alone.

It wasn't as if he wished for the company of the man- but the memory of the utter desolation of the empty landscape before him was like a heavy weight on his chest that threatened to shatter him. This man was his only shot at escaping. If he let him leave Light would be condemned.

"No," he exclaimed frantically. "Please, I will pay you back. Or I will compensate your services in another way." He didn't even pay mind that he was lowering himself- him, a God- to this measly ferryman. He didn't want to be left here, again.

But the man paid him no mind and Light burned with righteous indignation as the man proceeded to drive his boat out. He didn't try to beg him again- he wouldn't humiliate himself once more. Within, Light was burning with anger and anguish.

He felt someone's gaze on him. It couldn't be the ferryman. The old fool still had his back turned towards Light and was busy driving his boat away. Light looked away from the cranky old man and towards the source of the gaze.

And he was met with eyes darker than the sky above him. He had at first believed this to be impossible- whatever shade of black the sky above him was, he had been sure that he wouldn't find or imagine anything darker in this world or the next. But there was a difference whereas the sky above him made him want to look away as quickly as he possibly could, those two black orbs ensnared him. Only when those eyes were further away from him, did Light zoom out of them and see the face that they belonged to.

It was pale face- everything in this damned realm was in monochrome. But differently from the desolation of the rest of this world, the face surprised Light with its loveliness. Those two black orbs were lined with thick, long, dark lashes. Her lips were pouty and bordering on rosy in its colour. Dark hair framed her heart-shaped face.

Yet the thing that caused Light's rigid stance to drop and his hands to unwind from fists was the expression of her eyes. She didn't look at him with the adoration or admiration he had been used to in his life, or the suspicion he had encountered from Ryuzaki- or even the disgust he had seen when he had finally been revealed as Kira.

She had looked at him with curiosity.

* * *

In Nothingness, Light had lost any sense of time.

Truly to keep a track of how much time had passed seemed utterly ridiculous and senseless to him and Light had never been one to waste his time with banalities.

But now and again he felt tempted and he was ashamed to say that he was almost sure that he would have kept track of time and tortured himself with it, while trying desperately to calculate how much time he still needed to complete eternity, if he had a way to keep track of time.

As he lay on the gravelly bank that he had awoken on, everything was empty to him. That dreaded boredom that had plagued him until the day he had found the Death Note had returned and taken him into its fierce possession. He reflected- perhaps this was his curse: to wallow in utter boredom. He had believed that he had managed to overcome his nemesis when finding the Death Note because finally- finally he was fulfilling his destiny.

_His blessedness appeared._

Light fixed a fierce gaze on the ground beneath his cheek. This was always the case- the hero, the salvation always encounters a hurdle, an obstacle. The hero is always brought down to damnation before they rise again. L and his little minions had been his hurdle, his Achilles' heels, thrusting him back into this murk swamp of boredom.

And like Achilles and Homer and all the other glorious, heroic figures Light needed to find a way to overcome his situation. It had been the Death Note before. But he couldn't imagine that another one of those would fall from the Shinigami realm, especially not to this Underworld.

An indescribable sound caused Light to sit up and he saw that the boat and the cranky old man were back on the shore.

Light scrambled up to his feet and moved towards the shore.

The old man was in the same position as before, looking at him with shrewd eyes while leaning on his pole. The man outstretched his hand and in that gravelly voice stated: "The coin, boy." Light looked down and balling his fists, he exclaimed through gritted teeth: "I don't have a coin." He closed his eyes in indignation as he heard the response: "No coin, no passage." He looked up to see the old fool, dismissing him with a hand gesture and turning away from him.

Light ignited with anger and exclaimed loudly: "Do you know who I am, you fool..." But before he could go on and reveal himself as the righteous god, he felt someone's hands- icy hands, colder than death- packing his shoulders and throwing him to the side.

Light landed roughly on his side and he looked up to see who had dared to touch him. It was another pale individual, who was moving towards the ferryman with a golden coin in his grasp. Light looked wide-eyed as the ferryman took the coin before moving his pole aside so that the ghostly figure could climb onto the boat. And then the ghostly figure disappeared.

He looked back towards the river bank to see a lane of ghostly individuals- they were so monochrome they were almost indistinguishable- holding golden coins and one by one getting on the old man's ferry.

Why did they have the coins? Where did they get the from? And why didn't he have one?

He needed to get one of those coins and then he would be gain passage from the old fool.

Yet something- a little voice in his mind that sounded infuriatingly similar to L whispered that he wouldn't get one of those coins, he couldn't.

Cold despair packed him at the realisation and it was closely followed by determination. He didn't need that old fool to give him passage- he would be able to cross the sea himself. He had been a good swimmer and he was determined to do it. And what Light Yagami set his mind to, Light achieved.

He stood up from his undignified position on the ground and didnt waste time to dust his clothing from the dirt on the ground as he proceeded to stride towards the sea.

He was almost in the water when a soft voice stopped him: "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Light stopped in midstep and then he looked towards the source of the voice.

Black eyes were staring at him from within the ferry and only now did he realise that she was in the boat still. The girl- she couldn't be much older than eighteen years old was lying at the wooden edge of the boat and her hand- such a small hand- was dangling from the ferry so that her fingertips were about to skim the murky water. She was facing him with an unblinking gaze and she announced: "The waters of the river Acheron are not the waters of the world of the living. If you swim in them you will wake all the souls. No matter how good a swimmer you are you will drown." Her eyes ensnared him but at what he interpreted to be her dismissal of his skills, he wrenched himself away from her gaze and stated through gritted teeth: "It's no matter. I can fight them off. I don't need that old fool to gain passage."

She answered soon after: "Even if you somehow cross Acheron, you will get no further. Because you will then have reached the river Phlegethon, which consists of lava." He looked back at her and she was looking at him fixatedly: "Not even you would be able to fight off fire, would you?"

Normally he would have thought her to be mocking him. But there was nothing in her tone that would have allowed such an interpretation. He wasn't unnerved by her unwavering stare. He was used to girls looking at him- Light Yagami had never been short of female attention. But her gaze did not hold the same adoration that Kyomi or Misa had always looked at him with. There was something else- something that caused Light to want to look away but also keep on looking into her eyes at the same time.

The old ferryman side-stepped her as he moved towards the backend of the ferry and Light realised that he would again be left behind. As soon as the ferryman passed her, she turned her gaze away from him and looked up at the sky with her black eyes. Light looked to the side.

"Did you know that the hate from the River Styx was born from love?" her soft voice broke the silence.

He watched her as the boat carried her away.

And once she was far enough away, his lips twisted into that devious smirk that he always sported when he saw victory steadily approaching him.

Light had just found his golden coin.

* * *

Light had never had trouble at charming women.

Misa and Kyomi had been prime examples of this.

But this did not distinguish him in any way- anyone with good looks and a certain amount of charm could bend people to their will, perhaps not as well as Light did but well enough.

No Light was particularly successful due to another reason entirely: he had no scruples of using women's feelings to his gain- again Misa and Kyomi were prime examples of this. And in his dealings, Light never got emotionally involved or attached. In his six years with Misa he had not created a single care towards the woman by his side. He had written Kyomi's name in the Death Note without a single reservation.

Many would have criticised Light's inability to love, but he reveled in his emotionlessness.

He asked her the third time they saw each other: "What is your name?" He was sitting at the shore of the river bank, while the ferryman was collecting coins to pay for the passage of ghostly individuals who had just materialised out of thin air.

She was sitting at the edge of the boat and at his question, she raised her gaze from the surface of the water to him and cocked her head while studying him. He tried to hold her black gaze with his amber eyes but he had to look away. He feared that she would recognize his less-than-innocent intentions.

"Elene," he heard a low whisper answer him and he looked up to see that she had looked away from him and was once more studying the black horizon. He nodded his head though she didn't see him. Something stopped him from telling her his name. Perhaps it was her apparent disinterest in it.

Light bristled with indignation at that.

"Why are you always in the ferry. Don't you get off at the destination like all the others?," Light asked indulging in his curiosity, because there was no reason for him to ask her that. Perhaps it would help him know her better and as a result be able to manipulate her better. But Light had not yet thought as far.

She didn't look at him as he asked the question. Her eyes were fixed on something in the horizon and she didn't show any outward response. Though his question had been uttered clearly and in a loud voice, Light wondered whether she had heard him and was about to reask the question, but then she answered quite monotonely: "I am waiting for someone. If I get off the ferry I am afraid we shall never find each other."

Light looked at her startled and he tried to make sense of the answer. Yet before he could, the boat started to move and she began to distance herself from him. Before she got too far away, Light's hand shot out and laid itself atop of her hand- her hand, small and soft and impossibly warm (everything was cold here, why was her little hand so warm?). Recovering from his surprise he whispered: "Goodbye, Elene." And he held her surprised gaze.

He only removed his hand from hers once she had got too far away.

Once she wouldn't be able to see his facial expression anymore, Light's lips twisted into a malicious smirk at her expression of utter startlement when he had touched her.

His palm tingled.

Her hand had burned him.

* * *

Though Light had absolutely no sense of time, he felt that his wait for the boat to return to the riverbank- with her- stretched eternally long.

And he waited for her- an eternity within an eternity.

The waiting period was empty.

The boredom was starting to wear off and was bing replaced by cold, terrifying numbness. This caused Light to realise that his imprisonment in Nothingness had surpassed boredom.

It unsettled him. He didn't know how to deal with numbness.

He started to think about the people in his life. But he had either hated everyone that had come across such as L or Near or he had been utterly indifferent towards them, even to his family.

Light had never felt anything tender or good towards anyone.

And now this had come back to haunt him because he couldn't warm himself with tender memories.

It was only when he was about to fall asleep and just as he was about to fall in the blackness of sleep, black eyes would flash across his mind and Light would feel fractionally warmer.

He asked her who she was waiting for when she finally returned to him.

Again she didn't look at him eventhough Light asked her to with his unwavering stare. But she wouldn't look at him.

And she didn't answer him for a good amount of time.

And then when he was about to give up and ask her another question- surely once he had gained her trust and she was putty in his hands she would answer him- she stated slowly: "I do not know. Down here you often forget about things. I only know that I am waiting. And that whoever I am waiting for is important. And that they made me promise to wait for them."

As he watched Elene being driven away once more, he finally formulated his plan. Light knew that he had asked her the reason she always drove with the ferryman for a reason.

He could use this. Elene was awaiting someone. Someone she couldn't remember. Someone who had obviously been important to her.

His amber eyes flashed blood-red for a fraction of a second. Elene had been waiting for him.

* * *

Light had to go about this sensically.

He had never been one for unmeditated, rash and impulsive actions. Him just spinning a story that would have her falling into his open arms would be highly uncharacteristic of Light's logical way to go about his plans.

And somehow, for some reason, Light knew that working his charms on the mysterious girl with cesspool eyes would be nowhere near as effective as it had been with airheaded Misa.

He had to go about this slowly and cleverly. He had to build up their interactions lest she slip away from him like her warm, little palm had slipped away from under him that once.

"What comes after the River Phlegethon," he asked her with his knees drawn to his chest when she returned to him. For some reason, this stance makes him feel young-so young- he hasn't felt this young even when he was only sixteen years of age.

"I do not know," she whispers to him like she is telling him the most guarded and holy secret. "I only know that once we reach the shore, everyone exits the boat and then Charon ferries back here. It is a straight journey back on Acheron, but once we crossed Lethe. He told me to drink from it. The waters would make me forget about earthly life, he told me. I had been crying. I did as I was told. And then I stopped crying."

Unconsciously, he leaned towards her at her narrative. Somewhere along her explanations his feigned interest had become real though Light would maintain that his curiosity was only an act. He queried: "So you remember nothing from your earthly life?"

She shook her head and Light had expected to see some sadness on her face- everyone except him had some sort of sentiment of care towards what they may have left behind. Light only regretted that his reign had been abolished by those unworthy usurpers. Elene, on the other hand, seemed utterly indifferent.

She was emotionless. In the few interactions that Light had shared with the young woman he had grasped as much. The only expression he had ever seen on her face was either that cold, expressionless mask. Or that fathomless curiosity that she had regarded him with when she had been ferried away from him that first time.

"Only the things I have shared with you," she concluded.

Both fell silent after that. She because she had nothing left to say in this conversation and him because his mind was working at a neck-breaking speed trying to formulate his next step and weighing out the consequences of each scenario he came up with. He had to work fast: The file of souls was dwindling down and soon Charon would pass by them and ferry her away. And Light would have to weight god knows how long for her to return.

He wasn't satisfied with the progress they'd made during this meeting.

He was so close to reaching a well-thought out step but just before he could concrete it, her voice broke him out of his thoughts: "Can you remember anything?"

He had to prevent himself from throwing back his head and laughing triumphantly at the inky black sky above him. Her sudden show of interest was more valuable to his plan than any of his scenarios could ever be. This utterly stoic girl wanted to know about him.

She was just like any other woman. They all succumbed to his charms eventually- even this impenetrable seeming fortress of a girl.

He chuckled- feigning bashment, he knew that he was utterly charming when appearing abashed and humble- and explained: "I would hope so. I haven't been dead that long."

"Yet you have never told me your name," she stated matter-of-factly but Light was sure that he heard the accusation in her voice.

"Light. My name is Light," he smiled at her. He softened his eyes so that he would be regarding her with tenderness. He felt that feigning affection towards her would now be appropriate at her show of interest.

He lowered his voice to a whisper- he had always been great at feigning emotions- and regarding her with longing eyes he told her: "As is yours. Elene, Helen: Shining Light."

And for the first time, her expressionless mask fell. And she was not looking at him with curiosity either.

Those large, black eyes widened. Her jaw slackened.

As Charon ferried her off, she continued looking at him with utter surprise clearly spelt on her lovely face.

The image would stay with Light for the days he awaited her return.

* * *

"How did you die," she asked him while she lay stomach down on the wodden edge of the ferryman's boat.

Though Light would never admit it, he wasn't even aware of it due to his pride, he felt utterly charmed by her bluntness.

Though they only spent few moments in each other's company before she had to leave with the ferryman, Light had quickly come to realize that she was utterly different from anyone he'd ever met in his life.

L had been the same.

Light had never encountered another person that he'd been close to equal his own genius and he'd developed a grudging admiration towards the detective.

At the end, Light had outsmarted him like he did with everyone else. L had been great to award him with that utter feeling of triumph that Light had only experienced when holding the Death Note for the first time.

And when she had shown interest in him.

And Light knew that his conquest of her cold, dead heart would fill him with an undescribable, unprecedented ecstasy that would have him beside himself.

"I fell in battle," Light answered and was careful to school his features in a sad expression that was subtle enough to seem real and not feigned as they were. It wasn't technically a lie. Light had fallen as a martyr in his battle against the corrupt usurpers and their warped sense of justice that had wanted to revert back to the rotting old world that Light had so successfully eradicated.

She studied him for a few seconds with those deep eyes and Light fought to supress his squirm at her studious scrutiny.

The thing which bothered him about her was that despite those bouts of curiosity and surprise she revealed, he could never tell what she thought. He couldn't perceive how she viewed him. Perhaps that's why those outbursts of hers had become so unfathomeably precious to him.

She turned to lie on her back and looking up at the sky she muttered: "My condolences." He saw his chance at her response and deciding to become bold, his hand shot out to grasp her tiny palm.

He had wondered for so long if he had not just imagined the warmth of her hand. His wishful thinking for something warm in this cold nightmare that meandered before him.

But the flesh beneath his was warm and soft as clouds and Light couldn't help but look down, his mouth suddenly dry. Her fingers twitched against his palm- once, twice, thrice- as if she wanted to sketch the beat of his heart.

Catching himself, Light shook his head imperceptibly and ploughed on with his plan: "It isn't all bad, Elene, there is someone who promised to wait for me a long time ago."

To the untrained eye she would have shown no reaction to his little manipulation. But Light saw the subtle widening of her eyes as she looked up at the inky black sky and the tightening of her hand on his.

Light hid his smirk by bringing her hand to his lips and kissing the inside of her wrist.

His lips lingered on the soft skin. Until it slipped out of his grasp by Charon's departure.

* * *

Light had to stop himself from voraciously rubbing his hands together as he observed the ferry in the horizon slowly approaching him. For now, he satisfied himself with a malevolent, triumphant smile.

He'd done it. He'd conquered his little golden coin. And he'd effectively overcome this hurdle before him. He'd leave this hellhole and go on to better things.

He was victorious. He always had been all his life. But no triumph was as sweet as when she'd looked up at him through her long, dark lashes and asked him whisperingly: "What if it's you I have been waiting for Light?"

His exclamations of Elene, my Elene and drawing her warm form into his arms were being replayed in his mind. Shortly after their joyous reunion, they had started plotting: she had expressed her wish to him to remain behind with him until a hundred years passed and Charon would ferry them both for free across the Acheron. However, she had also told him that Charon would not let her leave his ferry.

Having observed that the ferryman didn't spare her a glance, Light had proposed to replace her weight on the ferry with a boulder her approximate size and weight in order to trick the old fool.

This would allow her to remain behind with him on the shore.

What Elene didn't know is that he planned to replace the boulder with himself. He was larger and heavier than tiny, soft Elene but he was assured that the old bat wouldn't notice the added weight amongst his passengers and if he did he was sure Charon would only notice it when they were far away enough for the ferryman to turn back.

As he looked down at the form of the sleeping girl on the ground, Light supposed that by normal human standards he should have felt remorse at his farcery.

But this is what he had always done. He had always used people and manipulated people for his use and advantage.

And though she was somehow different to all the others she was still just a means to an end, his golden coin.

Remorseless, Light took her place in the ferry and watched with emotionless eyes as that damned shore became further and further away.

And he left her behind.

The boat was crossing the murky waters of the Acheron until they reached a branching and Light saw the burning lava that Elene had described of the river Phlegethon.

He studied the branching which they were driving closer and closer to with a sickening fascination.

A raspy voice broke the silence: "The River Phlegethon: the place for the souls of murderers like you." He looked towards the ferryman to see the old man looking before him with steely eyes as he led the boat further on its trajectory.

"The River Phlegethon: the boiling blood of your victims," the pitch of the voice started to morph and slowly the raspy tone became softer and lighter.

And soon it was her whispering in his ears: "The River Phlegethon: Where violent souls like you drown and burn."

Her hiss and the screams from the burning souls in the waters drove him mad.

From his seat on the edge of the ferry, Light fell back into Nothingness and was engulfed by the flames.

And dark eyes were the last thing he saw before the utter blackness of them spread and encompassed his entire vision.

* * *

_**AN- Umm... Yeah: I don't really know what this was.** _

_**Death Note was the first anime I ever watched not too long ago. For most of the anime I was an utter L fan. But then in the last episode and during Light's last moments he just got to me.** _

_**I have been utterly fascinated by the idea of what might've happened to him after Ryuk wrote his name in the Death Note. We know that using the Death Note, he would've gone to neither heaven nor hell. This above is what my imagination produced.** _

_**Writing this OS was an utter bitch because I am so anal about keeping characters in character. And Light is one of the most complex and layered figures I have encountered, so writing from his perception is painfully difficult.** _

_**One thing I kept in mind writing a sort of kind of romance with him is that I am a firm believer that Light will never love somebody in the conventional definition of the word- he will never be selfless and he will never be lovey-dovey.** _

_**I tried to write his feelings as close to love as he will ever get. I believe that this is the most extreme way Light will ever love somebody.** _

_**Please review and tell me what you thought about the OS like its plot, the OC and her characterisation and my portrayal of Light and his thoughts and feelings.** _

_**I look forward to every feedback I get. Now excuse while I go off to lie down and have a rest.** _


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